1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for examining contrast agent movements in the body of a patient under the effect of gravity.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In radiography procedures, the flow of a contrast agent through the body under the effect of gravity has for many years been examined to provide certain diagnostic information. It is of particular importance in the case of the organs of digestion and the kidney/bladder system. Radiography procedures, however, are always associated with exposure to ionizing radiation, all the more so when the time pattern of a flow is to be monitored by means of a large number of images. Radiography contrast agents are physiologically harmful and in some cases slightly toxic.
An object of the invention is to provide an apparatus for examining contrast agent movements in the body of a patient under the influence of gravity which avoids radiation exposure, particularly in children and adolescents, and additionally provides enhanced soft tissue contrast, by which means the diagnostic precision can be improved. In addition, water is to be used as the contrast agent.
This object is achieved according to the invention in an apparatus having an MR scanner with a patient support system which can be tilted around the longitudinal axis and/or the transverse center axis for placing the patient in an oblique position within the magnet.
Minimally invasive interventions have in recent years already been performed increasingly with MR image control, these interventions being restricted by the confined space within the magnet, particularly in a complex and long apparatus. Despite this, it has not been proposed to examine the flow of contrast agent in the body under the effect of gravity using a magnetic resonance scanner, even though the required basic technologies are available, as well as the desire to spare patients, and in particular children, from radiation exposure. However, extensive tests forming the basis of the present invention have shown that even a relatively slightly inclined position, as is possible especially in the modem and no longer quite so confined MR scanners, particularly in open systems, permits a flow of contrast agent, under the effect of gravity, which is adequate for diagnostic examination. In addition to the possibility of simply providing an inclined wedge for corresponding oblique positioning of the patient on a normal support plate (as a result of which much of the restricted space in the MR scanner is nevertheless lost), a first embodiment of a patient support apparatus according to the invention has a lifting and pivoting column which is arranged next to the MR scanner and supports a patient support plate on a cantilevered bearing arm.
By means of this lifting and pivoting column support, not only can a patient support be tilted around its longitudinal axis, i.e. the patient being tilted around his or her body axis, but also the support can be inclined so that the head is higher than the patient""s feet, and in this way the typical gravitational flow of the contrast agent can take place. In this arrangement, the drive mechanism is advantageously installed in the base, where the magnetic stray field of the MR magnet is small. All movable parts are made of nonmagnetic material, for example aluminum or V4A stainless steel. The holding apparatus for the patient is made of a high-strength material which is additionally compatible with the electromagnetic conditions in the MR scanner, i.e. it is nonmagnetic and nonconductive, and has a small tan xcex4 and an extremely short echo time. Examples of suitable materials for this purpose are glass-fiber-reinforced plastic or Kevlar-reinforced plastic.
German Utility Model 299 005 12 discloses a magnetic resonance apparatus with a patient support table which can be used as an operating table, with patient support table mounted on the operating column so that it can be tilted around an axis transverse to the longitudinal axis of the table. However, in this known arrangement, with a column alongside the patient support table, tilting is only possible outside the magnet, and this is deliberately the case. The tilting in this known apparatus is in fact intended to facilitate certain operations. Examination of the patient within the magnet, especially with contrast agent flow, is not provided for at all.
Instead of a pivoting arrangement with a lateral lifting and pivoting column, in a further preferred embodiment of the invention provides the patient support system has a support shell which can be tilted, preferably in two directions perpendicular to each other, and the support shell can be mounted in a floating manner on an air cushion in a second support shell.
This patient support system with a tiltable support shell makes it possible, even in confined systems, to tilt the patient in order to obtain a flow of contrast agent under the effect of gravity, which is practically impossible when tilting the entire support arm with the patient support plate around a transverse axis on a lifting and pivoting column.